Tools for Getting Started as a Digital Nomad

As you guys have hopefully noticed, I’ve recently made the switch to focus my Youtube Channel entirely on Digital Nomad Life. I realised there were no other female nomads talking about careers or how to live abroad so I thought I’d tell the guys to budge over! So far it’s going down really well, but I wanted to put a bit on this blog too. I mostly get questions about how to start out so I thought recommending a few awesome free tools would be a great place to begin!

Nomad Messenger

So full disclosure – I’m biased about this one because my fiancee Ed built it. BUT, it’s honestly brilliant…. here’s why:

Most facebook groups are a blend of people who are coming to the city soon, left months ago, or are currently there. This makes them awesome for asking advice like “where’s good to live” or “where can I buy a yoga mat” but no good for short term instant things. Nomad Messenger on the other hand is ONLY for people who are currently in that city – as soon as you leave you automatically get booted out. So, if you want to ask “who’s up for dinner tonight?” or “anyone need a ride to crossfit?” this is the place.

As you can imagine, that’s perfect for when you first arrive in a new place and don’t know anyone. You’ll be instantly connected to everyone else who’s there right now and free to meet up.

Get it free here: www.nomadmessenger.com(limited cities out now, with more added all the time. If you want to personally head up your city let me know and we can add it right away)

Nomad List

This site was actually how we got our start, and we still use it on a regular basis. How it works is that they rank every city in the world (pretty much) by “quality of life for Nomads”. Things like safety, wifi speed, cost of accommodation, availability of co-working space, party scene, and attitudes to women. Then all the numbers combine to create a global ranking of each city. The cost estimates aren’t always perfect but I suppose every city has a blend of prices so it’s just an estimate. Definitely worth checking out if you’re trying to decide where to head next (or first!).

Facebook

Even though I mentioned earlier that Facebook groups have their downsides, they are also great for getting advice and tips. There will be tonnes of meetups posted, and there is a group for pretty much everything. In Chiang Mai especially you’ll see groups for SEO Experts, Vloggers, Crossfit, Nomad Girls, Clothes Swaps etc etc. Join as many as interest you and start connecting with people!

Freelance or Teaching sites

Of course the Nomad Dream is to build a passive income – meaning a product, service or company that makes money without needing to be maintained. For me that’s been Udemy which has been an absolute life changer. However, those things generally take a while (sometimes even years) to create and grow, so in the meantime you’ll need some cash coming in. Upwork (and other similar sites like Outsourcely) is amazing for finding freelance work. Whether you can write, code, design, edit, draw, translate, or any other skill – you can sell it on there. There are also specific niche sites for things like voiceover work, coders, logo designers etc, so spread yourself around lots of options. If you have experience teaching a second language teaching on Lingoci is great, or check out my database of online places to find work.

If you’re going to freelance then you might need to start off with your hourly rate quite low, but have patience and know your worth – you’ll soon be flying. Sites like Upwork do get a lot of stick for being full of low paying employers, so if you’re finding that then check out Outsourcely which costs the employer more to sign up to so tends to have high higher quality leads.

Udemy

As I mentioned I make my full time income from teaching on Udemy, but I also take a lot of courses to learn new things too. I’ve been looking into other income streams like Kindle Book and Affiliate Marketing and pursuing new hobbies like Photography and Calligraphy. Whenever I want to learn something new I always try and see if there’s a course on it on Udemy, and there’s almost always a discount deal on.

There’s also an online courses website focused entirely on nomad skills and online work training… check out Bring Your Own Laptop here. So if you’re looking to learn web design, photoshop, editing etc that could be a handy resource.

If there are any other tools you guys would recommend then comment below and let me know! Exciting things are popping up all the time 🙂 Happy travels!